Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Some Thoughts on Media and Press freedom

What are
the various media available to our people nowadays? Broadly: print, broadcast,
online, mobile, and oral media.

What do
these media produce? Contents like news, information, leisure pastimes, gossips.

How do
they produce? By tracking people and agencies who create news and information.

Who are
these newsmakers? People in public office, corporations, private agencies and
individuals. Of course natural phenomena like disasters which I suppose are
man-made.

What is
the problem in producing news and information? Newsmakers hide information
believed to be embarrassing and liability.

What do
journalists do? Try and try to get the information despite challenges in
access.

Why do
journalists do such job? Passion and salary. Of course oxymoronic job but it is
such a job.

How to
media houses pay people working for them? Through money made from
advertisements and commercial spaces.

Who pays
for advertisements and commercial spaces? Newsmakers!

What is
problem in getting advertisers money? If you write anything bad against the
advertisers then you better stay away from them.

How is
media companies affected? No money. No salary.

What
happens if there is no money and no salary? No news and information. Media
companies suffer from anorexia.

What
will happen if there is no news or information? People will depend on many
information and news which are freely available.

So isn’t
it better? Might be but again chaotic information might lead to uncontrollable
chaos.

So what
do we need? Freedom of press!

What is
freedom of press? Media makes money to sustain itself and carry out fair
reporting free from political and legal controls.

Can this
be achieved? No country in the world has achieved so far.

So what’s
the future? Write news, face challenges, try surviving, and be ethical.

Be ethical?
Yes! Don’t write bad when it is not bad and don’t write good when is not good.
But if you want to get paid write in a balanced way that everybody is checked
well.

Ummm?
That’s all.

Wait,
what about online, mobile and oral media? They are untouchables! I mean for our
local media industry. Actually they are the most effective medium not fully
exploited by our traditional media houses.

How? I read
news and information online and on mobile. I don’t find any media houses getting
to me through these mediums.

Isn’t
your view subjective? For anything to be objective must depend on subjectivity.